River Issues Remain Tangled

Who would pay, he asked, for fencing required as a result of the proposed restoration of the Kissimmee River?

The rancher, Steve Handley, is a member of the Kissimmee River Resource Planning and Management Committee, which has 35 members ranging from anti- restoration cattlemen to strong-willed environmentalists favoring dechannelization and state officials charged with implementing the restoration plans.

The committee failed to resolve some of the tough issues Friday during a gathering at the River Ranch Resort on the Kissimmee`s western bank.

Gov. Bob Graham is scheduled to join committee members today for a trip down the river, which was converted to a canal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s.

Graham is pushing restoration of the river`s twisting, swampy nature, a position not popular with many residents of the five counties fronting on the lower Kissimmee.

The South Florida Water Management District is currently conducting an experimental project on the lower Kissimmee, installing three metal dams across the football field-wide ditch to force water back into the oxbows and wetlands that are scattered across the river`s historic floodplain.

The economic issues include matters such as Handley`s fence question, but extend much broader.

One issue left unresolved Friday is how the state will help the local counties cope with economic losses created by dechannelization.

The state, through Graham`s Save Our River program, is trying to purchase the floodplain. Land bought by the government is exempt from local taxes. In Okeechobee County, the potential tax base loss is estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Tensions on the restoration issue are not as evident as when the state held public hearings here in 1983. In those meetings, shouting and name-calling were commonplace.

But while the animosity may be gone, the intensity is not.

Brad Hartman, environmental lands director for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, suggested the committee include in its proposed management plan a sentence on the importance of ``restoring the historic wetlands.``

He roused the ranchers` ire quickly.

``You are talking about flooding the whole damn valley again,`` said Sarah Price, an Okeechobee County Commissioner.

The committee readily agreed to include as part of the plan a strong statement urging the state to help the riverfront counties with economic development.

In addition to Okeechobee, the counties includes Glades, Highland, Osceola and Polk.

Facing a September deadline, Friday`s inaction set up a showdown on major economic issues during the committee`s final sessions in August and September.